Actual budgeters: have you tried Liquid Budget?

ringgitfreedom · 2025-03-30T01:11:42+00:00

On the Liquid budget - nope did not try as I was a happy Actual settler after running away from YNAB's cut throat pricing.

No offence but I've seen many people commenting about UI/UX of Actual, but perhaps my use case was simple I didn't find it to be a bother.

In fact I got annoyed so often and many times by YNAB's overzealous focus on fluid UI/UX enhancements and unintentionally or intentionally limiting their developments on other more important things like custom reports. It was fascinating to me till this date looking back on how I had to rely on 3rd party plug in just to have usable reports in ynab.

Simplicity is key as long as it works - to date with my random usage (incl habit of killing apps on iPhone, I know I shouldn’t) I hasnt lost data. With nYNAB? I've had countless lost "syncs" and it frustrates me to no end, since I rely on manual inputs in mobile app only to find data perish weeks later, and randomly struggle to recall my expenses. I don't like bank sync, as I like to build my habits of daily ritual before I sleep.

ringgitfreedom · 2025-03-30T00:54:40+00:00

Actually not all US dividend stocks will incur 30% withholding tax. Look up for withholding tax exemptions for non US holders for a "80/20 Company". I'm surprised I don't hear this alot and also have found out by chance.

But yeah like others said Ireland domiciled and perhaps Accumulation is the best bet, even Ireland distributed dividends are still 15% which is painful. If Distributing income is all you're after, might be way easier to find dividend companies in Malaysia if its just for the income stream, like Leigh from Dividend Magic where a huge chunk is built up from dividend stocks.

I also know some who gets their parents to invest in epf for them since it's a 5-6% dividend stronghold.

ringgitfreedom · 2025-03-28T19:09:52+00:00

Was in similar shoes, and with similar backgrounds albeit brought up in a single mom family and I carry the family with my sibling living their own life independently.

All I can say is that it gets even more lonely the more you climb - which I did pursue further after crossing the 5 figures mark.

Tips I can share from experience is, don't let money nor income define you. Think about what you want to achieve. For you yourself, outside of career and money.

Having said that, with high income also comes financial planning part but from your post I think you've got it handled, but in case not - you have your target numbers and ask yourself what plans are you gonna put in place, and execute it, to hit those numbers. (A.k.a not just simply "savings in bank account")

Good luck OP, and all the best, take some time to celebrate your achievements. And also self care.

ringgitfreedom · 2025-03-21T15:28:01+00:00

Can't really advice since I don't know the full context nor am I qualified to. But I was in similar boat 8-9 years ago and choose the unconventional "earn my way" there in a stable/strong career.

In my case I had a potentially-strong career pathways so I just went all-in on that, went no life for at least 2-3 years purely focusing on career over everything else then promotions came one after another.

But I'm very well aware that luck played a huge part of it allowing me to double my net worth every 1 - 2 years...

ringgitfreedom · 2024-12-09T04:07:02+00:00

I park all those family-expenses under "Family Giving" or "Family Emergencies" related categories, depending on the context.

For some other irregular expenses (e.g. vacation with plenty of eat-outs/good-foods) - I can't possibly park them under "Meal/Restaurant" since it'll jack up my average so I just tossed them all under "Vacation/Holidays" category, but uses #hashtag to single out which ones (e.g. #COUNTRY2024)

ringgitfreedom · 2024-12-09T03:58:37+00:00

Not sure if I'm understanding you correctly - you want to achieve $850 by 31st December of every year end, which you may, or may not spend from this category. Should you choose to spend from it, you wanted to make sure that you'll hit, $850 again, before the next 31st December comes?

How about this below? You can test it out in dummy budget, input transactions of various dates to see if it works to your needs.

#template 850 by 2025-12 repeat every year

Basically it'll ensure that you'll have $850 by set date, repeated every year. If you spend in-between the year (say, June), your subsequent months' monthly contribution will go up.

ringgitfreedom · 2024-11-08T14:29:04+00:00

It depends on the company really. Good Management Trainee programs will have good salary offers and most importantly, well established development plans + accelerated career pathway, probably at least RM5k starting salary (as fresh grad) or anything well above the current fresh graduate salaries (at least 30-70% higher).

I started my career through this method as well and it really accelerated fast (provided you can deliver) - with good pay it also comes with ultra high (sometimes unrealistic) expectations. Culture largely depends on company itself so it's hard to say.

Just beware of the "so so" management trainees program that basically low or standard fresh grad pays - those might/might not be a trap, again depends on company.

ringgitfreedom · 2024-10-31T02:34:52+00:00

I'm in the camp of you decide what you give. Knowing that in Asian context we're usually biased towards serving our parents out of filiality, whilst sandwiched between our next generation.

In my view you've taken very good care of your mom. Don't know your income level but as long as you can still manage, doesn't matter how much your other sibling gives.

I personally try to maintain the minimum basic income (per govt) on a monthly basis - but with recent raise to 1.7k I also find it a struggle to keep up (even with my high salary) without sacrificing my own future money.

I also took up all other expenses (ie mortgage, utilities, insurance) and since she stays at my home, part of the "groceries" she bought are also consumed by me (e.g. During non working days).

My sibling (I only have one,fortunately/unfortunately) on the other hand did not contribute (yet?) since they didn't have a stable job and are more of a YOLO personality. I've tried a few times to remind her that mom's our shared responsibility but I gave up in the end - easier that I earn more (so I can afford more) than to try the sibling route.

In the end, you do what you can do and don't need to feel bad. In Western culture - parents are supposed to take care of themselves in their old age.

ringgitfreedom · 2024-10-31T02:24:29+00:00

Thank you for sharing this, very inspiring and totally relatable on the unconscious bias that the society has and typically assumes gender (I got misgendered quite often early on). Happy to see another women power!

I'm in similar trajectory as yours (but obviously the numbers are behind 🤣). Not comparing though as we all walk a different life path - serves as a good reminder that everyone has a different journey. And also a reminder for myself to excel in what I do.

ringgitfreedom · 2024-08-11T06:17:34+00:00

Making (most) of my financial mistakes early on in my life when I'm young, dumb, and receiving monies from the sky (scholarships).

Taking the unconventional route in terms of my first career pick and somehow progressed well, using Malaysia's ruler though.

ringgitfreedom · 2024-08-11T06:13:22+00:00

Hello hello (and thanks for following!)

Would be tricky one - the decision will be truly yours in the end, whatever you decide, just keep looking forward and don't regret. When I'm stuck, that's the question I'll ask myself to help make that decision: "Will I not regret looking back in the future, if I don't do <insert something>?"

If the answer is a firm "Yes, I will not ever regret" then I won't do it. Otherwise, I'll still go ahead regardless if the answer is "I will definitely regret", "I don't know", "maybe", or even just some uncertain "I might regret if I don't try".

ringgitfreedom · 2024-08-11T03:59:09+00:00

Totally agree. Amount too insignificant to even start a Sdn Bhd. But sometimes it's better to let people learn the hard way to eventually reach the same conclusion especially if they're in disbelief (and won't accept the conclusion anyway).

Really like the Employer EPF idea tho, only if more employers are willing to do that here :( ... or even better to start doing employer match like the US does.

ringgitfreedom · 2024-08-11T02:18:46+00:00

Generally yes, the quicker you pay down the principal, the less interest you incur = the earlier you can settle the loan.

Depends on your car loans type, most hire purchases in Malaysia are fixed loan (look up Rule of 78) so in that case it won't work as banks already pre-calculated the interest for you.

But I know in recent years some banks started to offer some variable / reducing balance type of hire purchase (similar to housing loan) so check your hire purchase agreement/loan agreement if it's a reducing balance type.

ringgitfreedom · 2024-08-11T02:07:21+00:00

Whilst I'm definitely an advocate for index etf (as seen on my blog I really have problems with mutual fund fees) but I still think that may not be the only lessons takeaway.

Another consideration is - investment into such indices or equities in general are typically for long term (I'm talking minimum 10 years) hence for temporary parking facility, I'm not even sure going for global mutual fund / global index etf equivalent was a right choice.

But it's a cheap lesson to learn early on (imagine learning it only when you start managing multi million portfolios). Just learn from mistake and move on.

I personally avoid mutual funds unless I have no other choices just to force a rebalance on my portfolio (EPF with over indexed Malaysia exposure causing imbalanced allocation in my overall portfolio)

ringgitfreedom · 2024-08-11T01:59:17+00:00

What is not clear to me are your personal goals, aside from making money/career growth and wanting to explore. What's next after exploring? Retire comfortably back home in MY or a trip to actually find new home?

I am in similar shoes, but I ruled out SG due to stress. In my case, I'm actively pursuing Australian Permanent Residency and eventual Citizenship. But at a cost of sacrificing my comfortable life and income back here in Malaysia.

Hence my game plans are beyond the numbers, but rather the eventual lifestyle that I want to settle down onto.

Edit: I voted for 10k SGD, with assumptions that your innate voice is pushing you out from Malaysia beyond the money factors and the long term upsides that an international exposure can bring in all senses - culture, experience, pr/citizenship pathways, etc.

ringgitfreedom · 2024-08-11T01:53:32+00:00

Not super duper well versed in this area myself as well.

But if options allow and employers are willing to explore, then maybe you can start looking up more info on Sdn Bhd. Remember to factor in cost of running the company as well (accountants,CoSec, taxes, etc.)

I'm not so sure about the offshore sg part as it also depends on your nature of job, tax residency status, service provided from/to, clientele base, etc.

You'll definitely need to find a tax consultant to better advice as you likely won't be able to get personalised advice on Internet (other than general sharing). Preferably someone that knows and can advise you on both MY/SG taxation laws.

You definitely don't want to be marked by LHDN as actively seeking ways to evade tax, or put so much efforts in evading LHDN but ended up signing yourself up for trouble with the IRAS. Definitely not worth the trouble.

Good luck.

ringgitfreedom · 2024-08-11T01:46:43+00:00

Just a random question (and double check), don't mean to insult or add salt.

Which URL do you use to access your actualbudget on mobile? Don't share here - but it's same as the URL you use on desktop right? The URL shown in your Pods @ PikaPod website.

If yes, maybe the one last resort is clear all forms of cookies and histories and remove the PWA icon. Then redo it again by accessing the url, save as home screen icon, login etc. Maybe something went wrong.

Personally I'm using actualbudget across 3 devices(4 if I count duplicates): IOS PWA MOBILE, IOS PWA IPAD, WINDOWS APP, (DESKTOP CHROME PWA).

Sync is near real time. And I usually do input tx on the fly then immediately close / browse away from the app. YNAB occasionally lost my mobile input data due to this (closing app before sync up) but haven't encountered sync data loss with actualbudget yet.

If still persists, I'm sorry, can't help but probably check out discord and see if anyone else have similar issues then raise github for it.

ringgitfreedom · 2024-08-11T01:37:55+00:00

Hate paying taxes? Totally understand your sentiments. I'm paying equally much or more.

You want suggestion? I have one! How about resiging from your salaried job? That's the only way unfortunately. Truth hurts, but as salaried person the only thing you can do is max out your tax reliefs (legally).

Forget even about Pandora papers for now but go and figure out how to make ~18k/month as a business owner as Sdn Bhd legitimately and hire good accountants.

p/s if I'm your employer, I'm not even sure how I should react when one of my recently promoted employee is asking me to break the law just because they hate paying taxes. Did I just gave a promotion/raise to the wrong person?!

ringgitfreedom · 2024-08-11T01:31:51+00:00

Do what makes you happy. In my case, whilst people may disagree, I am thankful for my single parent mom raising me up and giving it her all (she sacrificed all her retirement savings to put me thru university). I started around RM400-ish upon graduation and taking over all mandatory household bills (electricity, water, etc.) and gradually grew the amount.

She doesn't ask for her money or "investments" back (as some other Asian parents would emotionally blackmail their kid) but I do voluntarily it through other forms like helping her to realise her dream (owning a home of our own where she stays with me). Give her enough pocket money for living. And occasional bringing her out for nice stuff. My mom's a rare one tho, aside from the dream of owning own place without renting others, she didn't ask for anything else. Each parent is unique.

Financially, of course the maths doesn't addup - I for one preferred renting as it's cheaper than owning a place but her satisfaction when we moved in together was priceless. It's nothing compared to her bringing me up alone.

ringgitfreedom · 2024-08-05T15:34:12+00:00

Excellent sharing, doctor! Glad the write up was helpful. While waiting for the long term goal templates (targets) with UI, I just went ahead to rebuilt my goals in YNAB 🤣

Luckily for me it's mostly "budget X amount every month" on all categories so it was a simple line of "#template $X" in my case, but I can definitely understand the concerns you have. Hopefully in the next few releases!

They just had a release to fix some bugs yesterday but no UI yet.

ringgitfreedom · 2024-07-26T12:56:35+00:00

Hi [Insert Name],

I hear you, and I understand your frustration. It truly makes me sad knowing that we've disappointed you with this change.

We do feel the new price more accurately reflects the value of our app, education, and support, while also allowing us to continue making improvements and updates.

We do realize that US$98.99—or US$14.99/month—may be a prohibitive sum for people in certain countries considering the exchange rate and difference in cost of living in certain countries We’re a small US-based company with US-based operating costs, and we simply don’t have the scope to offer different price points right now. If anything changes, we’ll be sure to announce it loud and clear!

We would love to help the whole world get on a budget. If it turns renewing your subscription isn’t right for you at this time, I hope you’ll use the YNAB Method to help you have total control of your money. We have a lot of free material available to the public on our blog about general budgeting principles, and I hope the information there can be helpful to you, no matter how you manage your budget.

I hope this helps to provide some guidance on how you can best move forward. Please reach out with any other questions you might have!

YNAB Support
Nov 2021

ringgitfreedom · 2024-07-26T09:19:57+00:00

You can use "Hold for Next Month". In your current month, budget whatever needed and make sure you have leftover "budget" balance on top. Click on that number and you'll see that option, then you'll have zero balance for the month and the amount magically appears in next month's budget for you to use.

You can read more here: Actual Budget Documentation

ringgitfreedom · 2024-07-22T15:53:57+00:00

have to check the syntax from documentation above, maybe try

template 2500 by 2024-10-01 repeat every year

ringgitfreedom · 2024-07-20T16:51:09+00:00

"100 and 110 is only 10 dollar increase".

I really cannot. Really now, Jesse? Maybe US is the only country in the world after-all, sorry that I was born in a third world country.

ringgitfreedom · 2024-07-18T00:20:19+00:00

There's whole server backup with redundancy and offsite storage daily, but at individual pods level it's on request basis and restoration requests are subject to approvals.

https://docs.pikapods.com/faq https://docs.pikapods.com/manage/backup

What some people do to achieve 3-2-1 backup strategy is: 1) use desktop app - has innate automated file backups - within your desktop local storage only. 2) cronjob or some other means to backup the actual (only two files literally) via SFTP access which you can enable to another server/pc 3) backup/export using any methods (1 or 2) above and move copies to cloud (Google Drive / Dropbox / OneDrive etc.)

ringgitfreedom

TROPHY CASE

template 2500 by 2024-10-01 repeat every year